


Playing with Fire (final rewrite)

by GothicDeetz



Series: Maitland-Deetz One Shots [4]
Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bonding, Dead People, Demons, F/M, Families of Choice, Family, Family Bonding, Father Figures, Found Family, Gen, Ghosts, Good Demons, Mother Figures, Multi, Talking, Talking To Dead People
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:48:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23206510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothicDeetz/pseuds/GothicDeetz
Summary: Lydia decides to set herself on fire.
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz & Adam Maitland & Barbara Maitland
Series: Maitland-Deetz One Shots [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1668409
Kudos: 24





	Playing with Fire (final rewrite)

“Did you bring the set of matches that I asked you for, Betelgeuse?” Lydia asked with a few quiet laughs, glancing over towards her best demon friend as he entered the kitchen area of the Maitland-Deetz house.

Betelgeuse smiled softly over towards Lydia, handing her the set of matches that he’d found. “Here you go, Lyds.” 

“Thank you, Bj.” Lydia smiled back at him. She took one of the matches out of the box that she was given and began to inspect it over thoroughly and carefully.

“You’re welcome, Scarecrow,” Betelgeuse said with a wink, sitting himself on the kitchen counter.

“Ahem,” A voice behind Betelgeuse and Lydia spoke. They quickly turned around to find Barbara standing behind them, her hands on her hips. She looked to be eyeing them suspiciously. “You two aren’t planning on setting the house on fire again? Right?”

Lydia and Betelgeuse exchanged glances. That was far from what they were planning on doing with the matches they’d found. Lydia quickly hid the box of matches that she was currently holding behind her back, glancing nervously over towards Barbara. “What?! No! Of course not. What makes you think that?”

“What are the matches for, then?” Barbara raised an eyebrow.

“We were going to go and cook something on the stove with these matches.” Lydia grinned widely over towards Barbara and giggled loudly.

“Isn’t that, I don’t know, dangerous?” Barbara asked, a mixed tone of shock and confusion in her voice.

Betelgeuse snickered quietly to himself. “It’s not as dangerous as the two of us setting ourselves on fire.”

“WAIT?! WHAT?!” Barbara’s eyes widened in fear. She did not know what to think. 

Betelgeuse and Lydia both choosing to mess around with matches was a very bad idea. In fact, it brought her back to a memory from a couple weeks back: Betelgeuse and Lydia choosing to mess around with a flame thrower that the latter of the two had somehow found inside of an open box in the attic of the house. And here she’d thought that Lydia had promised her that she and Betelgeuse weren’t going to play with any more dangerous things. 

But, with the matches...was Lydia kidding when she said they were going to be more careful from now on?

It looked that way.

At that very same moment, Adam peeked his head into the kitchen. He looked to be concerned with all the noise. “Barbara, honey, what’s going on?”

Barbara turned to face him, a panicked look in her eyes. “Lydia and Betelgeuse have matches and now I can’t tell if they’re going to use them to cook food on the stove or if they’re going to use them to set themselves on fire.”

“Aren’t both of those things dangerous?” Adam asked, his eyes widening. 

Barbara nodded, letting out a sigh. “That’s what I told them.”

In the background, the two ghosts could hear Lydia laughing. “Hey, Betelgeuse?” The teenage girl shouted. “Could you get me a lighter, please?”

Adam and Barbara turned around, panic setting in. “NO!”

“Sure thing, Lyds,” Betelgeuse said, climbing off the kitchen counter. He finds a lighter, bringing it over to a waiting Lydia. “Here.”

“Thank you, Betelgeuse.”

Adam placed his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow as he eyed Lydia and Betelgeuse. “Lydia, Betelgeuse! Put the matches and the lighter down.”

“What if we don’t want to,” Lydia and Betelgeuse said in unison.

Barbara folded her arms. “Then one of you is seriously going to get burned very badly if you happen to go through with whatever it is that you guys are planning on doing.”

“Relax, guys.” At this time, Lydia chose to light a match. “We’ll be fine. We know what we’re doing.”

“No,” the Maitlands unisoned. “No you don’t.”

“I’m pretty sure we do.” Betelgeuse winked.

Lydia held the match she just lit close to her body. As a frantic Adam went to try and grab it from her, she held it out of the male ghost’s reach. “Bj’s right,” the teen said with a giggle. “Like I said, we’ll be fine. I swear to you guys that nothing bad’s gonna happen.”

“What did we say about you guys playing around with dangerous stuff?” Adam asked.

“Not to?” Lydia and Betelgeuse said in unison.

“Exactly.” Barbara nodded in approval. “Now put the match down, Lydia.”

By now, Lydia had already and apparently set herself on fire. “But, it’s too late.”

“Lydia, no!” A panicked expression appeared on Barbara’s face as she began to process what just happened.

“Oh look, I’m on fire.” Lydia looked down at herself. “WAIT!!! I’M ON FIRE!!!”


End file.
